[spectre] Dark Designs - Switzerland - 14 October

[Honor Harger]

Greetings Spectres,

Below is an announcement about an event I am 
helping with - Dark Designs - which takes place 
at the museum of Science Fiction (Maison 
d'Ailleurs) in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland.
The event is a follow up to some of the ideas 
explored at this year's transmediale in Berlin.

We would be delighted to welcome you here, if any 
of you would like to come for a visit.

Best,

Honor Harger

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A N N O U N C E M E N T  -  D A R K   D E S I G N S
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Dark Designs
Art, technology & conspiracies

www.dark-designs.net

Symposium - Performances - Exhibition

Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

14 October 2008

Exhibition - 15 - 24 October 2008


Dark Designs will explore the notion of art, 
technology and conspiracies in a series of events 
taking place in venues across Yverdon-les-Bains 
in Switzerland.

Organised by Maison d'Ailleurs (House of 
Elsewhere) - the museum of Science Fiction, 
Utopia and Extraordinary Journeys - and the 
University of Art and Design in Geneva (HEAD), 
Dark Designs includes a symposium featuring 
acclaimed science fiction writer, Norman Spinrad; 
director of transmediale, Stephen Kovats; 
philosophers Pierre Lagrange and Daniel Pinkas; 
scientists Herbert Keppner and Jérôme Charmet 
and many others. The symposium takes place in the 
new wing of Maison d'Ailleurs - Espace Jules 
Verne - which opens ten days before Dark Designs.

Dark Designs also includes an exhibition of 
digital art by students, located in 
Yverdon-les-Bains' historic 13th century Savoyard 
castle, and an evening of extraordinary 
performances by artists Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry 
Gelfand and Gaspard Buma, hosted by the 
picturesque theatre, L'Echandole, situated in the 
caves of the castle.


ABOUT

In an age when technology is omnipresent, in a 
society of flux, transparency and of widespread 
surveillance and paranoia, the Internet seems to 
have become the favorite support system for an 
upsurge in rumours and wild conspiracy theories. 
New media now give rise to the very same 
controversies that surround Science Fiction and 
scientific progress in general.
Dark Designs questions the current relevance of 
conspiracy theories and their digital avatars. 
The event takes a thoughtful and incisive look at 
the concept's ambiguity, history and links to 
philosophy, research, art and technology.


SCHEDULE

14 October 2008

Symposium
14:00 - 18:30	Pierre Lagrange, Daniel Pinkas, 
Stephen Kovats, Laurent Schmid, Manuel 
Schmalstieg, Anne Zeitz, Herbert Keppner, Jérôme 
Charmet, Evelina Domnitch, Dmitry Gelfand & 
Norman Spinrad

Exhibition
18:30 		Apéritif and opening of exhibition

Performances
20:30-21:15	Gaspard Buma, Partition pour 8 muscles et 1 sampler

21:45-22:30	Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry 
Gelfand, 10000 peacock feathers in foaming acid


INFORMATION & BOOKINGS

Maison d'Ailleurs
Place Pestalozzi 14
1400 Yverdon-les-Bains
Telphone: +41 (0)24 425 64 38
Email: info at dark-designs.net


SYMPOSIUM

Date/Time: Tuesday 14 Ocbtober 2008, 14:00 - 18:30

Venue: Espace Jules Verne, Maison d'Ailleurs
Place Pestalozzi
1400 Yverdon-les-Bains
Switzerland

Entrance: free

14:00		Welcome
		Screening of Iconography of Conspiracy

14:20-16:00	I. History and philosophy of conspiracies
14:20-14:50	Pierre Lagrange, 'Qui ne croit pas aux théories du complot?'
14:50-15:20	Daniel Pinkas, 'Réflexions 
épistémologiques sur les théories du complot'
15:20-15:40	Stephen Kovats, Dark Space: 
tracing conspiracy beyond the depths
		of Jules Verne '20 000 leagues'
15:40-16:00	Laurent Schmid, Manuel 
Schmalstieg,'Fear, uncertainty and doubt'
		Discussion

16:00-16:20	Break
		Screening of Iconography of Conspiracy

16:20-18:00	II. Art, technology and plots
16:20-16:50	Anne Zeitz, 'Le Point aveugle de la surveillance'
16:50-17:20	Herbert Keppner, Jérôme Charmet, 'The Lifter project'
17:20-17:40	Evelina Domnitch, Dmitry Gelfand, 'Light Harvesting'
17:40-18:00	Norman Spinrad, 'The Conspiracy: Only Chaos is Real'
		Discussion
18:30		Conclusion


Speakers

Pierre Lagrange (F) Sociologist, specialized in 
the study of science and controversies in 
"para-sciences". Also an associate researcher at 
LAHIC-CNRS, Paris.

Daniel Pinkas (CH) Philosopher, professor at 
Geneva University of Art and Design, co-head of 
the postgraduate course Immediat, and leader of 
research projects in the field of new media.

Stephen Kovats (CAN) Architect, media researcher 
and director of Transmediale, Berlin's festival 
for art and digital culture, where the 2008 theme 
was 'Conspire'.

Laurent Schmid (CH) Artist and professor at 
Geneva University of Art and Design, co-head of 
postgraduate course Immédiat and Work.Master, 
leading the research project Coldcenter.

Manuel Schmalstieg (CH) Executive director of the 
multidisciplinary art collective N3krozoft Ltd, 
who operate on the border between video, 
performance and software art.

Anne Zeitz (D) Artist, and researcher 
(Mouvement-observation-contrôle, Goethe-Institut, 
2007), and member of the 'Esthétique des nouveaux 
médias' laboratory at the University Paris 8.

Herbert Keppner (D) Physician, professor and 
researcher in the field of microtechnologies 
(HE-ARC, Le Locle), who works mainly with plasma 
assisted effects and on industrial plasma 
applications.

Jérôme Charmet (CH) Engineer in Microtechnologies 
in the fields of semiconductors and sensors, and 
since 2004, a researcher in Professor Keppner's 
group at HE-ARC, Le Locle.

Dmitry Gelfand (RU), Evelina Domnitch (BY) 
Artists and performers, who create installations 
and sensory immersion environments that merge 
physics, chemistry and computer science with 
uncanny philosophical practices.

Norman Spinrad (USA) Science-fiction writer, 
author of the acclaimed and controversial books 
Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream, The Mind Game, 
amongst many others.


PERFORMANCES

Date/Time: Tuesday 14 October 2008, 20:30

Venue: Théâtre de L'Echandole
Place Pestalozzi
1400 Yverdon-les-Bains
Switzerland
http://www.echandole.ch/

Entrance: Entrance: CHF 12 (free for participants of the symposium)

20:30
Gaspard Buma
'Partition pour 8 muscles et 1 sampler'
http://gaspardbuma.org/
Gaspard Buma questions in his works the relation 
of machines to the body and to intimacy, as in 
the piece Home (2007), in which movement sensors 
connected to computers transform into music a 
group of dancers' movements. "I always wanted to 
be a strong man, a perfect dancer, a super hero, 
an amazing loverŠ but I'm only myself (I'm only 
what I am, with the body I have) So I invented a 
machineŠ". This performance uses the body as a 
percussion instrument. A computer plays a music 
score which is simultaneously transmitted to the 
muscles through electro-stimulators. Each note, 
provokes the contraction of a muscle, thus 
producing and controlling  the performer's 
movements.

21:45
Ten Thousand Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid
Dmitry Gelfand, Evelina Domnitch
http://www.portablepalace.com/
Because there are not yet formulas to describe 
certain invisible morphologies, scientists rely 
on soap films as an unsurpassed means of 
simulation. The artists scan the surfaces of 
nucleating and dissipating soap bubble clusters 
with a hyper-focused beam of laser light, 
generating a live, large-scale projection of 
invisible ionic streams and other mind-boggling 
phenomena of non-linear optics. Bubble behaviors 
viewed in such close proximity evoke the dynamics 
of living cells. This performed installation also 
uses the laser to inspect inaudible vibrations, 
propagating through the reflective media of 
bubble membranes, and entering the hearing 
spectrum by means of a light-triggered 
programming environment.

Artists' Statement
"A vacuum or semi-vacuum encased within a gravity 
and temperature sensitive elastic skin - the 
scenario of an early universe, a soap bubble, and 
later, that of a biological membrane.  By 
researching the behavior of soap bubbles, a vast 
variety of optical, mathematical, thermodynamic 
and electrochemical discoveries have been made 
since the time of the Renaissance.

The first ever computers were soap film 
calculators (15th century), which tackled 
geometric equations of minimal surface area. The 
latest nanoscopic soft drives are being used for 
blackhole and superstring modeling. Because there 
are not yet formulas to describe these invisible 
morphologies, scientists rely on soap films as an 
unsurpassed means of simulation.

The artists use laser light to scan the surfaces 
of nucleating and dissipating soap bubble 
clusters. Unlike ordinary light, the laser's 
hyper-focused beam is capable of crawling through 
the micro and nano structures within a bubble's 
skin. When aimed at specific angles, this 
penetrating light generates a live, large-scale 
projection of normally invisible ionic streams as 
well as mind-boggling phenomena of non-linear 
optics recently discovered at the Lebedev Physics 
Institute (Moscow). Without the use of a 
microscope or any other magnifying devices, the 
laser itself permits the tremendous leap in 
scale. Bubble behaviors viewed in such close 
proximity evoke the dynamics of living cells 
(whose emergence and survival was made possible 
through analogous membrane formation).

Technologically, this performed installation is 
akin to Leon Theremin's eavesdropping device, the 
"Buran" developed for the KGB in 1945. This 
microwave scanner was used for the surveillance 
of acoustic vibrations on the surface of 
windowpanes and toilet water.  Instead of 
employing a ray of microwaves as the scanning 
medium, a laser, which was not yet 
instrumentalized at the time of Theremin's 
invention, can far more accurately accomplish the 
same task.  As such, a vast variety of inaudible 
vibrations can be inspected, propagating through 
all sorts of reflective media - in this case, 
that of bubble membranes. These inaudible 
dynamics enter the hearing spectrum by means of a 
light-triggered programming environment created 
by Bas van Koolwijk.

In stark contrast to former bubble explorations 
by scientists, mathematicians, and artists (the 
likes of which have included Newton, Da Vinci, 
Gauss, Chardin, Young and Murillo to name a few), 
here, a warped, 'impossible' space-time is 
invented: the laser's multi-angle paths through 
numerous bubble surfaces project a dense layering 
of diverse scales, speeds and vanishing points. 
The title of the work stems from the Chinese 
expression, 'the ten thousand things', signifying 
the varifold of cosmic phenomena. Though it may 
become as thin as a single molecule, all 'the ten 
thousand things' are refracted through the 
sensitive skin of a soap bubble."


EXHIBITION

Date/Time: Vernissage_ - Tuesday 14 Ocbtober 2008, 18:30
Open: 15 -24 October 2008 (Wednesday - Friday 
14:00 - 18:00, Saturday - Sunday 11:00 -18:00)

Venue: Caves du Château
Place Pestalozzi
1400 Yverdon-les-Bains
Switzerland

Entrance: free

Conspiracies, the freely interpreted theme of the 
event, is the guiding principle for a selection 
of works either made especially for the occasion 
or chosen from recent digital art works by 
students in the postgraduate program Immédiat - 
arts and medias at the Geneva University of Art 
and Design, and from the Cycle supérieur de 
recherche création et innovation of the Ecole 
Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD - 
Paris). The works range from computer imagery to 
programmed on-line works, videos, animations and 
interactive installations.
Dark designs will thus appear through several 
recurring questions on the everyday presence of 
interconnected computers, immersion in digital 
imagery and computer-generated flux and through 
projects dealing with the fears, suspicions and 
controversies that surround the development of 
technology.

Works from: Benoît Billote, Samuel Dahan, Nicolas 
Field, Victor Konwicki, Cheong Kwon, Oh Eun Lee, 
Angela Marzullo/Renaud Marchand, Raphaëlle 
Mueller, Israel Antonio Ospina, Mark Pasquesi, 
Thomas Perrodin, Adriana Caso Sarabia, Laura 
Seguy, Patrick Tschudi, Roman Urodovskikh (HEAD - 
Genève), with Emilie Brout/Maxime Marion, 
Dominique Cunin, Mayumi Okura (ENSAD - Paris).


ORGANISATION

Maison d'Ailleurs: http://www.ailleurs.ch/
HEAD (Haute Ecole D'art Et De Design) - Genève: http://head.hesge.ch/
With support from: l'Office fédéral de la culture 
- Sitemapping, la Ville d'Yverdon-les-Bains et le 
Théâtre de L'Echandole, Pour-cent culturel Migros
In partnership with: Transmediale (Berlin), Ecole 
Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (Paris)

NB: On 4 October, Maison d'Ailleurs open Espace 
Jules Verne, a permanent exhibition in a new wing 
of the museum.  Also on that date, the temporary 
exhibition 'Return to Dinotopia' opens.  Both 
exhibitions will be able to be viewed by visitors 
to Dark Designs.


CONTACT

Telphone: +41 (0)24 425 64 38
Email: info at dark-designs.net
www.dark-designs.net